Zellers, Dean to lead House GOP

Minnesota House Republicans Saturday elected Representative Kurt Zellers to be the next Speaker of the House. Republicans also elected Representative Matt Dean to be the new House Majority Leader.

Zellers is in his fifth term representing Osseo and part of Maple Grove. He's been caucus Minority Leader since June 2009.

Zellers said state Republicans will push forward with their agenda whether Minnesota ends up with a Democratic Governor Mark Dayton or Republican Governor Tom Emmer.

"We've had a very aggressive plan to streamline government, to help government not only live within its means but to work for the people not the other way around, where the people work for their government," Zellers said. "We're going to put that plan together.

Zellers said he's looking to work with either governor because all three candidates said they were going to do whatever they can to help jobs and the economy in Minnesota improve.

"So in either case we'll take both candidates at their word that they're ready to focus on jobs and bringing the economy up," he said.

New House Majority Leader Matt Dean is going into his fourth term representing Dellwood. Dean said his desire to be majority leader came out of his experience running the recent state Republican election committee.

"I traveled around and recruited a lot of these folks with Kurt and got them to run in many cases and helped them through the election process," Dean said. "So now I want to help them in [the] Legislature, and also help them enact what they campaigned on, which is jobs and the economy and less spending."

Dean also said Republicans will push forward with their agenda whether Minnesota ends up with a Democratic Governor Mark Dayton or Republican Governor Tom Emmer. State officials say a recount may be necessary to determine the winner.

Gallery

Fullscreen SlideshowPrevious Slide

1 of 1

Next Slide